the Doctors Son
by Name123456
Summary: In the DW episode "The Doctor's Daughter," the Doctor has a genetically  engineered daughter named Jenny.  What if instead of a daughter, he had a son,  Ianto?  And what would happen if Ianto ran into 21st century Torchwood?
1. Chapter 1

Authors note

This story uses the character Jenny from the doctor who episode "The Doctors Daughter" however in this story the doctor had a son called Ianto instead of a daughter.

Captain Jack Harkness sighed and picked his way through the rubble of torchwood one, the massive task of cleaning up after the battle of Canary Warf weighing heavily on his mind. There was so much destruction that it was hard to know where to even begin. The images that he had seen, being one of the first on the scene, would haunt him for a while. Jack had been around a bit in his long life and had seen a lot of war and destruction but that didn't numb him to every new horror that life threw at him.

He had travelled to London with Owen and Suzie as soon as he heard the news of one's destruction and had requested Unit's help with the clean-up. As much as he respected some members of unit, and admired some others in uniform, he was beginning to regret asking for their presence as he saw General Smith approaching. Since arriving, the General had tried to take over and make life difficult for torchwood three, seeming to blame them for what had happened and not even Jack's most charming conversation could make the man any easier to get along with. He braced himself for more time wasted arguing about what to do next and reminding certain people exactly who was in charge here.

Later that day Jack was scouting out the holding cells in the tower looking for anything alien that he thought torchwood three ought to confiscate. He got about halfway down the corridor when he heard a strange rustling noise. Carefully bringing out his Webley Jack quietly scanned his surroundings for the source of the noise. He noticed that during the battle the cells had been partially destroyed and he wondered just what London had been keeping locked up anyway. His ears pricked when he heard a soft growl and the next thing he knew he was wrestling for his life with an enraged Weevil and he heard himself cry out as he felt the creature bite into his neck.

Ianto cautiously hid behind a partially collapsed wall as he saw a man in an old fashioned military coat approach. Since his ship had crashed into 21st century London he had quickly learnt that he could not trust Torchwood mainly because they had thrown him in a cell as soon as they found him so he was worried about who this man was and what he was doing there.

Now Ianto's soldier instincts were kicking in and he itched to attack the potential threat approaching him. In spite of this he held back, thinking about what the doctor had once said about fighting and killing and held back. He had grown to love and respect the doctor and desperately wanted to make his accidental father proud even though he probably would never see him again.

Now that he had decided that he was not going to attack the man just yet Ianto considered what else he could do. Through following his survival instincts and a bit of luck Ianto had managed to survive the attack of the Cybermen and the Dalek's. He knew that this was his chance to escape Torchwood and go back to travelling like the doctor; all he had to do was slip out of the building without being seen and find a way to get off this planet, this was easier said than done especially as the man was coming closer and closer to his hiding spot.

As the man approached Ianto concluded that he must be some kind of soldier and he found him strangely intriguing. Ianto's inbuilt training helped him notice important little details about the man such as the intelligent way he surveyed the room and the intense way the man moved, as if he was stalking out his prey. But there was something else about the man that sparked Ianto's interest. This man seemed different from all the other people he had met in this place, like he didn't belong here. He was a mystery and like his father Ianto loved a mystery. He wanted to find out more about him even though he sensed that the man was dangerous and nothing good could come from talking to him.

To his left Ianto heard a shuffling sound and saw the man draw his weapon and guessed that he had heard it too. For some reason Ianto suddenly felt strangely protective of the man approaching him so when the creature abruptly flew at the man and attacked him Ianto's battle instincts kicked in and he rushed forward to save the strange man, without thinking of the consequences.

The creature, which Ianto identified as something universally known as a weevil that torchwood one had been keeping in the cells for exanimation, was biting into the man's neck so Ianto quickly scanned the room for a suitable weapon. On the floor he saw a long chunk of wood so he grabbed it and expertly hit it on the back and then the head managing to get it off and away from the man.

The weevil recovered quicker that Ianto expected and managed to get the upper hand. As they fought it nearly got close enough to hurt Ianto when the man pulled the weevil off Ianto and injected it with a sedative.

Ianto watched the other man pull back from the creature and feel his wound. Ashamed at almost being defeated by the weevil Ianto turned to the other man and said

"Thanks"

"No, thank you" replied the man who looked Ianto up and down and said "and you are?"

Ianto immediately felt uncomfortable, he was bread to be a brave soldier and did not have much experience interacting with people he did not know and was unsure what to do. He had learnt so much more from the Doctor but had also seen how much about humanity he did not know and understand. It also did not help that Ianto had just noticed that the man was also quite beautiful. However Ianto covered up his uncertainty and said,

"Jones, Ianto Jones" and shook the man's hand.

"Nice to meet ya, Jones, Ianto Jones, I'm Captain Jack Harkness." came the reply which only made Ianto feel more uncertain. Still trying to seem confident he looked at the Captains neck and said

"Lucky escape?"

"I had it under control" Said the captain looking at him with suspicion now

"You think so; looked pretty vicious, you are um… were bleeding" Replied Ianto as the Captain flinched away from him.

"I've had worse from shaving"

Ianto decided that he may as well try and find out more about the man as there was no way he could sneak out of the room now so he said,

"It looked like a weevil to me"

The Captains looked at him suspiciously and said

"I have no idea what you're talking about; I'll take it from here." And he crouched down and picked up the weevil in a fireman's lift over his broad shoulder. Then as if he was having second thoughts he turned back to Ianto and said

" You'd better come with me, all survivor's need to have a medical check from my team doctor Owen and then you will need to report to my second Suzie and let her know your personal details for our records."

Now Ianto felt really worried, he did not want to get caught up in torchwood any more than he already had and desperately tried to think of a way to distract the Captain. All Ianto really wanted was adventure, a chance to find out who he really was and see more of the universe. Oh and of course lots of running, just like the Doctor. Deciding to try a new tactic Ianto turned towards the captain and in his most flirtatious voice said,

"By the way, love the coat" This had the opposite effect of what Ianto wanted as the captain turned back and gave him a predatory grin before continuing to walk him out of the tower.

Owen, Ianto decided, had the worst bedside manner that he had ever seen. Although this did not say much as in the short time that he had been alive he had only ever met one other doctor, Ianto did not know what to say about his bedside manner.

So far Ianto had managed to avoid answering too many questions having been passed off to the doctor as soon as he and the captain got out of the tower. Ianto was worried about the tests that the doctor had done on him though, once these people found out that he was not the same type of human Ianto was not sure what they would do with him. Torchwood One had basically said that he was theirs for them to examine and his life was not his own anymore. After that he was left forgotten in the cells.

There were many odd things about Ianto that could draw attention such as his two hearts or his enhanced DNA. Ianto was physically more agile than the average 21st century human and had sharper reflexes he also had an inbuilt understanding of combat techniques and how to be a soldier. Another unusual aspect was that he was created from the DNA of a time lord therefore was half human half time lord, made obvious by his two hearts, which would definitely draw torchwoods attention.

As Ianto was worrying about this Owen turned to him and said

"Alright you can head off now and report to Suzie or one of the other idiots from unit around the place"

Silently Ianto got up and walked out but before he could get far he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and collapsed into darkness.

Authors note

This is my first ever attempt at fanfic so please comment and let me know if it is ok.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack stared across the table at the man, if he was even a man, cuffed to his chair. Owen had asked him to come see something in the medical tent using his most serious voice. When he reached the tent he found that Ianto had been sedated and tied up.

"You know, when I asked you to give Mr Jones here medical treatment this isn't exactly what I had in mind" said Jack.

Owen gave jack a look that clearly said I'm tired and grumpy so don't waste my time,

"I did give him a medical, but if found some interesting things that I think you should take a look at. I sedated him because I didn't want him scarpering off somewhere."

"What kind of interesting things?"

"Two hearts and there are some unknown qualities in his DNA but I haven't finished testing it yet so I'll have to get back to you on that one. I haven't been able to find anything about him in One's records but you said you found him near the cells so he might have been locked up because he was dangerous"

Jack remembered the efficient and well trained way that Ianto had fought the weevil and frowned.

Jack continued to survey the man across from him; he was very handsome, especially in handcuffs. But really Owen's claim that Ianto was an alien should not be that surprising, there was just something strange about him when they met in the tower. Ianto also seemed achingly familiar but Jack just couldn't work out why.

A soft sigh alerted Jack to the fact that Ianto was waking up, this was going to be interesting.

"What… where and I… LET ME GO!"

"You are being held in custody, Mr Jones, because of some interesting results in your medical exanimation, I thought that you were part of the staff but your not are you? You were in torchwood because you're an alien."

"I'm not an al…"

"Two hearts! Very interesting and your DNA is not something a 21st century human would have. What are you?"

"I'm not an alien, just listen alright, I was born in the future, was travelling when my ship fell through some sort of rift or hole, anyway I crashed here and all I want to do is fix my ship and bugger off, but you idiots keep drugging me and locking me up!"

Well, Jack thought, this is indeed interesting. It was possible that Ianto was telling the truth however that did not explain his two hearts, Jack had lived in the future and knew that things like that did not exist in humans even in the future. Also Ianto looked so very cute when he was angry.

"Ok I accept that you could be a traveller from the future however you are definitely and alien and as Torchwood I have a duty to find out If you are a threat so it is just us, in this room, for as long as it takes for you to tell me the truth."

An interesting expression passed across Ianto's face that Jack could not work out.

"I'm not a threat! All I want is to see the universe, save people, see something amazing. I don't deserve to be locked up"

Then something clicked in Jack's head, Ianto reminded him so much of the doctor. There was just something in his manner and what he said that was so like the doctor, he even had two hearts!

"Does the name Time Lord mean anything to you?"

There Ianto flinched, now he was staring at jack.

"What did you say?"

"Time Lord, you know they look like humans, have two hearts, lived on the planet Gallifrey and are now extinct except for one, or so I thought but that's just impossible."

"I don't know what you're talking about"

"Why do you have two hearts? Where did you grow up? Who were your parents? Have you ever met the Doctor?"

At Jacks last question Ianto looked into Jacks eyes in shock

"You know the doctor; can you tell me where he is?"

Jack sat back in his chair and stared at Ianto, well this changed things. If Ianto was friends with the doctor, maybe even related to the doctor it probably meant that Jack could trust him a little more. It also meant that Jack had another way of finding the doctor or at least getting his attention, surely he would want to find someone who could possibly be another Time Lord. Although if that was the case why had the doctor left Ianto if they already knew each other. But Ianto might have more information about the doctor that could help to find him. Jack leaned forward in his chair and said,

"I do know the doctor and I am trying to find him but how do you know the doctor and why did he leave you?"

"Why should I trust you, all Torchwood has done is lock me up and you haven't told me anything, why did he leave you?"

"This isn't about Torchwood anymore and you can't say anything about this to the others because technically the Doctor is the enemy of Torchwood. I used to travel with him but something happened to me and he left me behind. I need to find him so he can answer my questions and that is all that I am going to tell you"

"Why are you a part of Torchwood if you aren't an enemy of the doctor?"

"Torchwood exists to monitor and protect the earth from aliens, if you're looking for an alien Torchwood is the place to be; besides my branch of Torchwood is different, we try to help, not just kill and experiment, you can trust me"

"So far you haven't treated me any differently, you both locked me up"

"We can't just let aliens or people from the future wander around, this planet isn't supposed to know about the future or alien life yet, allowing people like you to wander around unchecked could cause a paradox if you said or did the wrong thing."

"So what are you going to do with me?"

To answer this question, Jack gave Ianto his brightest smile and said seductively

"What would you like me to do with you?"

"Sorry Captain, not today, I just want you to let me go."

"Well I'm afraid I can't do that, it's too dangerous for you to go back through the rift, you could end up anywhere, even if you had a working ship to travel in and like I said I can't just let you roam free on this planet, paradoxes are so unpleasant."

At this Ianto's face fell. Jack leaned closer and said,

"I do have a proposition for you though; you could come back to Cardiff with me, that's where Torchwood three is based. You could stay in the hub where I can keep an eye on you, you can try to fix your ship and I might even get my tech genius to help. You can also help me to find the doctor although at some point we need to finish our conversation about how you know the doctor and why he left you"

"Do you know what happened to my ship it was in the tower?"

Oh, Jack hadn't thought of that

"Might team are removing all alien tech from the tower it might be there somewhere if not you could try and build something from the other tech we have however everything you touch and everything you do will have to have my approval."

"Well I guess I don't have much choice then"

Jack clapped his hands together and jumped up

"Well come on then, work to do."


	3. Chapter 3

Ianto followed Jack into the building where Torchwood three was temporally storying all the equipment from Torchwood One. His ship just had to be here somewhere, he didn't know what he would do if it wasn't. As they moved through the rows of artefacts Ianto let his thoughts wander.

Captain Jack Harkness had proven to be even more of a mystery than Ianto had expected. He didn't know what to make of him as Jack seemed to be full of contrasts. In the short time that Ianto had known him he had seen Jack be flirtatious, suspicious, moral, ruthless and kind. Ianto wondered how he knew his father and if Jack's version of Torchwood was as different from one as he claimed. Jack had not told Unit anything about Ianto, just that he was not allowed to leave. He had also told his team that they would discuss it later and not to ask any more questions now.

Ianto had watched in the background as Torchwood and Unit cleaned up the destruction. Their efficiency and respect impressed Ianto. He thought that these people were good at being soldiers and that they knew what they were doing. Now that all of the pressing work had been taken care of Ianto and Jack finally had a chance to search for his ship.

"What exactly are we looking for?" asked Jack.

"It's a small transport shuttle, built for one person. It's kind of dark and round"

"Ok, I think that there's some stuff like that towards the back, over to the right."

After about an hour of searching, Ianto finally saw something familiar. It was his ship however it had sustained even further damage from the battle of Canary Warf to add to the damage it had from when it crashed.

"This is it"

"That's great do you think you will be able to fix it?"

"I should be able to, all of the vital parts are here, but it will take a long time."

"I'll make sure it gets packed up and transported to Cardiff safely"

…

"Why are you letting him stay in the hub if you aren't sure if you can trust him. He could get his hands on all kinds of dangerous things in here." Demanded Owen after Jack told him that Ianto would be living in the Hub.

"Yes but we can keep an eye on him there. I also think that it is a good way to test his loyalty. We can monitor him closely on the CCTV footage and see if he is tempted to mess with anything. We will also have anything dangerous locked up and beyond his reach."

"I still don't like this; we don't know anything about him. Just because he looks pretty doesn't mean that he is harmless."

"I know that Owen and don't question me. Based on the information that I have gotten from him I have decided he is harmless enough and should be given a chance to prove himself. Looking pretty is just an added bonus"

…

Jack had just taken Ianto on a tour of the Hub that was obviously meant to impress. Turning back towards Ianto jack said,

"We will have to fix up someplace here for you to stay, we have some guest rooms but they are not ideal for a long term stay and I can't remember the last time someone cleaned them"

"What do you normally do with other alien refugees? Surely if torchwood is as good as you claim you have helped others stranded and have a plan for this?"

"Well I haven't been in charge for very long and we don't have as many stranded and friendly aliens as you would think. I've have set up a place for humans misplaced by the rift but I haven't really needed to help any aliens until now. Most find a way to get back or are picked up by some of their species. If I know that I can trust them to blend in I allow them to live here in secret and check up on them regularly. But you need to stay here until you prove that you are trustworthy."

The alarm for the cog door went off and Owen and Suzie arrived together. Having already met Ianto they did not pay much attention to him Tosh arrived almost straight after them and quietly greeted Ianto gazing at him with curiosity. Everyone seemed to except Ianto's presence in the hub. There was the occasional suspicious glance from Suzie or Owen but they didn't cause any trouble.

Jack waved Tosh over to where they were standing.

"Can you help Ianto pick out one of the nicer guest rooms and clean it out. Ianto can also make a list of things he needs and you can go pick them, up when you have a spare moment"

"Sure Jack"

"Ianto there is a workroom here next to my office that you can use to repair your ship, I have already moved it in there for you"

Once Ianto moved off to examine his ship Jack moved closer to Tosh and said in a low voice,

"Make sure there is extra security footage around his room. Also go through the hub and review our security. Upgrade anything that you think is out-dated and make sure that there is no way he could get his hands on something he shouldn't."

"Do you think that he is going to be a threat then?"

"I don't know but we should always be careful of these things especially with some of the dangerous pieces of tech that we have. We do not want that stuff to get into the wrong hands"

…...

Ianto looked around for something to do. He was going stir crazy having nothing to occupy himself with except for trying to fix his ship. After living in the Torchwood hub for a week Ianto decided that he wanted to be a part of the team. The whole place seemed so exciting and they did everything that Ianto wanted to do such as saving people and defeating evil creatures. There was also a lot of technology that Ianto was itching to examine. Ianto thought that there was a lot he could do to help improve Torchwood if Jack would only accept his help. Ianto was determined to make this happen, he is not the sort of person who sits back and lets life pass him by.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of metal and he discovered that it came from the Kitchenette. Walking into the room Ianto saw a large coffee machine. He had tasted coffee when he visited the planet Yessera which had a large colony of humans that farmed all sorts of food for exportation and was especially famous for the gourmet coffee beans they produced. Ianto had instantly fallen in love with the rich bitter beverage and hoped that he could make something similar here. Ianto did not find it very hard to work out how to use the coffee machine, when he was created in Messaline he was born with inbuilt knowledge of machines and weapons to help him be a good soldier.

This was a beautiful machine and soon Ianto had two cups of coffee ready. It was not as good as Yessera coffee but Ianto was confident that it was the best circumstances could produce.

Maybe Ianto could use coffee to get on Jack's good side and earn a place in the Torchwood team. Ianto made his way over to Jacks office.

"Good morning sir, coffee?"

Jack looked up at Ianto, raised his eyebrows and tried some of the coffee that Ianto had passed to him.

"Wow" Jack definitely looked impressed so Ianto took a deep breath and said,

"I want to work for you"

"No"

"Why not, I could help so much. I'm a trained soldier, I know how to fight and I can use all of your technology."

"That's not the issue; I need to know if I can trust you first. Anyway we don't have any job vacancies"

"You can trust me. I haven't caused any trouble here. Besides I think that you do need help here. This place is a mess and nothing seems to have been archived properly you wouldn't know where to look if you wanted to use something again."

"I don't care! You can't work here, end of discussion"

…

Jack watched Ianto walk out of his office and sighed. He still did not know what to make of the young refugee staying here. There were just so many questions that he needed the answer to before he felt that he could really trust the young man. He still hadn't found out anything more about Ianto's relationship with the doctor. Jack knew that that was a conversation he was going to have to have with Ianto very soon.

In spite of this Jack had started to feel a growing attraction for Ianto. He was extremely good looking and Jack had also become accustomed to having him around in the short space of time that Ianto had been there. But it was more than that; there was just something about Ianto that brought out a more personal side to Jack. This was dangerous; Jack made a point of not being really close to anyone anymore. He only showed people the hero side of his personality and avoided actually telling them anything about himself. Having Ianto around brought up so many memories that Jack had spent around a hundred years trying to bury. Jack was having a hard time keeping this side hidden from Ianto and desperately wanted to share things with him.

Jack decided that he really needed to sort out his conflicted feelings as it was likely that Ianto was going to be around for a while. For now he was going to try to keep Ianto at arm's length, for the sake of his own sanity.

…More time passed without anything exciting happening to Ianto when late one night after the rest of the team had gone home the rift alarm went off. Both Jack and Ianto came out into the main part of the hub to see what was going on. Walking over to Tosh's computer Jack said

"It looks like something big has come through; I'll have to call in the others to go pick it up"

"Seems a shame to drag them back out, sir"

"Yes, but I can't leave you here by yourself"

"You could take me with you, just the once, I promise not to cause any trouble"

Jack hesitated for a moment before heading towards the door

"Well come on then"

….

They followed the coordinates to a large abandoned warehouse. Jack turned to Ianto and said

"Ok here's the deal, you will do exactly what I say and you will stay back and not do anything unless ordered to"

"Yes _Sir!"_

They both entered the warehouse carefully. There was a loud screech and Ianto caught a fleeting glimpse at what looked like a pterodactyl before they both darted back through the door slamming it shut behind them.

"A pterodactyl, that's quite excitable" said Jack as they leant against the door

"Must be your aftershave"

"Never wear any"

"You smell like that naturally?"

"Fifty-first century pheromones, you people have no idea. You ready for another go?"

"I'm game if you are"

"On three… One, Two, THREE"

They both burst back into the warehouse and the pterodactyl swooped down at them again.

"SLPIT" yelled jack and they both ran around the dinosaur yelling to confuse it.

Jack edged closer to the pterodactyl

"Come on, come back with me. You can't stay here and I've got somewhere big where you can fly around"

"What exactly is your plan?" whispered Ianto

"I'll distract it" replied Jack and handed Ianto the needle with a sedative in it "Here, one injection into the central nervous cortex should be enough to knock it out, move"

"No"

"What"

"I'll make a much better decoy and I've got a secret weapon. Chocolate, preferably dark" and giving the stunned Jack back the needle Ianto moved out towards the Dinosaur.

As Jack moved into position behind it Ianto threw a few pieces of chocolate out and whistled encouragingly. "That's it… it's good for your serotonin levels… if you've got serotonin levels."

Unfortunately the pterodactyl turned around to jack and sensing that it was in danger began to attack. Jack grabbed onto its leg as it flew off and managed to inject the sedative.

"Iantoooo" Jack cried as felt himself falling towards the ground.

Ianto positioned himself so that he could break Jacks fall and the next moment He found himself lying on the floor with Jack stretched out on top of him.

Looking beyond Jack Ianto saw that they were about to be squashed by the pterodactyl and rolled them away. Now Ianto was lying in top of Jack and both were laughing from the adrenaline. Being pressed so close to Jack sent waves of emotion through Ianto. In his short life he had never felt like this before and it confused and scared him. He was not sure what to do with these feelings so he mumbled to Jack

"I should go" and walked back to the SUV as fast as he could.

…


	4. Chapter 4

Jack stood back in the shadows and watched Ianto pass around coffee to the rest of his team. Ianto had fallen into a kind of Butler role here, always being the one who brought food and drink for the team and cleaned up after them. The others seemed to accept his presence here now and allowed him to wait on them without comment.

Jack had thought a lot about the idea of allowing Ianto to work for him. He knew that he needed to give Ianto something else to do as he was becoming restless and Jack did not want to make Ianto feel like a prisoner. Ianto was right in that he had a lot to offer the team and had proven that he could be a capable field agent. But jack still wanted to know more about Ianto before he let this happen.

Jack hadn't had a chance to discuss anything with Ianto yet. This was mainly because ever since the night when they caught the pterodactyl Ianto had been avoiding him. Jack wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not. Pterodactyl hunting had only made it even harder for him to want to stay away from Ianto.

Jack was interrupted from his thoughts by the beeping of his earpiece.

"Jack"

"Tosh"

"There's been a large rift spike; I'm tracking the co-ordinates now."

"Alright I'll go check it out with Owen…Owen, get ready for some field work I'll meet you in the SUV in five"

"Coming"

Just then Jack heard a quiet sob and turned to see Ianto falling to the floor, clutching his head with tears running down his face. Within seconds jack had raced over to his side and was trying work out what was wrong.

"OWEN! Get over here now"

"What's up with our tea boy?" Asked Owen as he leant over to check Ianto's pulse

"Tosh, Suzie I need you two to go and check out the rift spike, Owen and I need to stay here with Ianto."

"Bring him down to the med bay Jack" said Owen as he continued to examine Ianto

Jack gently gathered Ianto up in his arms and carried him over to the med bay.

"What is it Ianto. What's wrong?"

"It's my head. I can hear something calling out, a song of pain, can't you hear it jack. It's so sad, I can't stand it."

Meanwhile Owen was hovering around with a scanner.

"I can't find anything wrong with him"

Jack looked closely at Ianto's face. He remembered his Telepathic training from when he was in the Time Agency. Jack had no telepathic abilities of his own however he had been trained to shield his mind from attack and knew how to recognise if a civilian had untrained telepathic ability. Ianto was showing all the symptoms of this. Ianto was looking scared and confused therefore it seemed likely that he was unaware of any telepathic abilities. Ianto's lack of shielding made this seem even more probable.

"Give me a minute alone with Ianto" demanded Jack

"What!"

"Just do it Owen"

"Ok, but if he gets any worse you call me immediately"

Jack waited until Owen had left then turned to Ianto and said

"Ianto, have you ever been tested for any telepathic ability?"

"What? No"

"So you haven't had any training"

"No"

"I think you might have some telepathic abilities and your discomfort might be caused from telepathic creature broadcasting into your mind. If my theory is right you need to learn how to shield your mind so you can shut it out"

"How do I do that?"

"Just relax and breathe deeply" Jack shifted round so that he could gently massage Ianto's shoulders. Ianto was still sobbing quietly but eventually Jack managed to calm him down a bit.

"Now you need think of something that is really important to you, something that makes you feel a lot of emotion, Have you got something?"

"Yes, I think so"

"Good, focus on that. Let it fill your mind and if your thoughts stray just gently bring them back to that."

Jack was now standing very close to Ianto and his hands were still gently massaging his shoulders.

"Ianto I am going to enter your mind now is that ok"

"y…yes"

Jack gently pressed his fingers to the sides of Ianto's head.

Until Ianto mastered mind shielding he needed Jack to support his shield with his own. With the help of someone trained in shielding it usually took a person around about a month of practice before they were capable of shielding by themselves. Ianto would have to rely on Jack's help until he learnt how.

Gradually Jack let his own personal memory fill his mind until he was able to use that to block out everything else. Next he eased this into Ianto's mind combining it with what Ianto was thinking to block out anything else and create a strong shield.

"Does that feel better?"

"Yes, It's still there but It's in the back of my mind now and I can think properly again."

"That's good, it's working"

Jack realised that his face was now much closer to Ianto's. All he had to do was lean down a little bit and he would be able to kiss him.

"JACK"

Ugh Owen had the worst timing ever thought Jack. Ianto had jumped and sprung back from him as soon as he heard Owen yell.

"Jack, what's going on? The others are back and they've got an unidentified alien with them, must have fallen through the rift."

"Ok, I'll come take a look at it"

"You should stay here and rest for a while" Owen told Ianto when he saw the younger man getting up

"No, I'm alright now"

"Are you sure, you still look very pale"

"Yes, I feel much better now"

Jack, Ianto and Owen walked out into the main part of the Hub just as the girls were bringing the Alien through to the cells.

The alien turned and looked directly at Ianto who stared back at it curiously.

"I know what it is" exclaimed jack

"They appear on earth in the future and act as servants for humans. They are called the Ood"


	5. Chapter 5

Jack watched as the Ood and Ianto stared at each other. He moved closer to Ianto and whispered

"Do you think it could have been the Ood that was projecting telepathically? ...Ianto?"

Ianto jumped and turned to face Jack, he hadn't heard a word he said because he was so focused on the Ood.

"Pardon?"

Before Jack could ask again the Ood raised the small globe that he was holding and spoke for the first time in a polite, even voice

"Can I serve you?"

"Good lord, it sounds just like the Tea boy," said Owen.

"Do you have a name?" Ianto asked the Ood

"Designated Ood Delta 32"

"The Ood were never given proper names, they were practically slaves for a while. They got set free a few decades later but I don't know that much about what happened" said Jack

"How do you know about the future anyway?" asked Suzie

"I just heard some things from this guy I knew, long story" hedged Jack

"I beg your pardon" said the Ood "Why have I been brought here? Is there something that I can do for you?"

"You have fallen through a rift in time and space you are now on Earth in the 21st century"

"That is not possible; I can still hear the song of my people"

"I'm sorry but you are stuck here"

"I am happy to serve you"

"Owen, take a blood sample and give him a medical examination, see if there are any similarities to any other aliens that we have on our records. Tosh, can you run some alien scans on the Ood see if you pick up anything unusual. Suzie try to work out some basic data about our guest, we definitely need to find out what he eats and his basic physical characteristics,"

Owen, Tosh and Suzie began to lead the Ood away to do what Jack had asked.

"Owen let me know when you have finished and I will get our guest settled in a cell"

….

Later that day Ianto followed Jack down to the cells as he was locking the Ood in.

"You can't just lock him up, he's harmless."

"This planet isn't supposed to know about the Ood until the 42nd Century. If I let him go out into the world now I could create a paradox."

"But there's got to be something else you can do for him"

"What do you suggest we do?"

"Find someplace better than a cell for him to stay in for starters, I thought you only put vicious creatures like the weevils in there."

"We don't know enough about him to guarantee that he would be safe anywhere else in the Hub"

"Why haven't you just locked me up in a cell then?"

"You know the doctor. I guess that means that I can trust you a little bit."

"Just not enough to let me leave Torchwood or help out the team"

"Do you think I like being the person who has to make all of the hard decisions? I don't like this anymore than you do but it would be worse if I made a mistake and allowed this planet get attacked or destroyed. I have to put people's safety first. Believe me I will do everything I can for the Ood and you but I can't compromise the safety of this planet!" snapped Jack

"I'm sorry. I'm just worried about him. I think he was the one who was communicating telepathically. When he came in he looked right at me and the song in my head got louder again, it was like a cry for help."

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. We just need to find out a bit more about the Ood first and then we will work something out for him"

"I guess your right"

Ianto turned back to the Ood

"Are you alright in there? Is there anything that I can do to make you more comfortable?"

"I am happy to do whatever you wish sir"

With a sigh Ianto and Jack left the room missing the brief moment when the Ood's eyes flashed red.

…

Ianto lay awake in his room trying to process everything that had happened over the last few days.

He did not know what to think about the idea of having telepathic powers. He did not really know much about it. He had developed a headache from trying to shield all of the time and hearing the Ood's song of pain and captivity in the back of his mind was depressing him.

Life used to be a lot easier when Ianto only thought like a soldier. But then the doctor changed everything for him. Ianto's world had been opened to so many new ideas and Ianto wasn't quite sure how to handle it. He wished the doctor was here now, if anybody could find a way to help the Ood it was the doctor.

He felt that he had adjusted to life at Torchwood reasonably well. He got on ok with the others even if Suzie and Owen tended to ignore him most of the time. Tosh was reserved and absorbed in her work but she made an effort to be nice and Ianto thought that he could easily become good friends with her. Ianto didn't know how he felt about Jack.

Ever since that night in the warehouse Ianto had realised that he was attracted to Jack. Ianto did not have much experience with things like this. He knew how to flirt but his inbuilt training to be a soldier did not include how to deal with relationships. He certainly had not learnt anything about that from the doctor who was very emphatic that all of his friendships were purely platonic.

Ianto tried to sort through his tangled feelings about Jack hoping that organising his thoughts would help him handle the situation. He had grown to respect Jack. Though Ianto was still annoyed the treatment he received from Torchwood Ianto had to admire the way Jack ran Torchwood tree. From what he had seen Jack was trying to make his version of Torchwood better than Torchwood One and Jack had done a lot to improve it. There were still a lot of things that needed to be fixed such as Torchwood's policy for dealing with aliens that came through the rift, especially the more benign aliens.

Ianto had also come to see Jack as a friend, he was the one who talked to Ianto the most here and had made him feel welcome at Torchwood. He had gone to a lot of trouble to make sure that Ianto was comfortable and had everything that he needed. Ianto sensed that there was a lot more to Jack's character than the older man showed. This made him curious and he wanted to find out more about the Captain. Ianto was still weary of Jack, the man was dangerous. He also seemed to have a lot of secrets. Ianto worried that any feelings that he had for Jack could see him end up getting hurt and the man did not seem the type to want to get into a relationship.

Then there was the physical attraction. Every time Jack looked at him, his gaze left Ianto weak at the knees and it shouldn't be possible for someone to smell so good. Ianto had decided that the Captain was one of the best looking man that he had ever seen in his short life. There was just something about Jack that made Ianto want to get closer to him.

Suddenly Ianto sensed an emotion that felt fear flash through his mind. That did not come from me Ianto thought. There was another flash of fear this time it was accompanied with what looked like an image of soldiers being killed in a battle but it was gone before Ianto could register it properly. A low moan came from the main corridor of the hub so Ianto left his room to investigate. Every now and again Ianto would feel flashes of fear, grief and pain that were not his own emotions.

Ianto found Jack asleep at the desk in his office. The man was clearly having a nightmare. He seemed to be struggling against something and kept calling out. Ianto laid a hand on his shoulder to try and wake him up. As soon as he came into contact with Jack Ianto saw another image of men getting shot down in war. Jack grabbed Ianto's outstretched arm and held on as if it was his only connection to the world and woke up.

"What are you doing in here?" asked Jack unconsciously tightening his grip on Ianto's arm.

"I felt something else in my mind and then I heard you crying out so I came to make sure that you were ok sir" replied Ianto who was feeling bit shaken from what had just happened.

"What did you feel?"

"Fear, grief, that sort of thing and then I saw an image. It looked like soldiers getting killed sir"

Jack's face went white and he looked a little unsettled from what Ianto had said

"I think that was me, you were getting the emotions that I was feeling in my sleep"

Jack was still holding Ianto's arm and his expression changed as he slowly looked Ianto up and down

"Nice pyjamas, by the way I love the way you call me sir"

Ianto blushed and ignored this comment, pulling his arm back from Jack.

"I think I could see flashes of what you were dreaming about but not enough to make sense of anything"

"Really? You must have a much stronger telepathic ability than I thought. Have you ever sensed anything from someone's mind before you came here?"

"No, I thought that telepathy was a myth before I came here"

"It is very rare, I don't have any ability myself but I have had some basic training. I could help you experiment with it and see what you can do."

"What sorts of things do you think I might be able to do?" asked Ianto excitedly.

"Well you managed to get through my shield while I was sleeping, though that could have been because I was helping you shield. I think that you might be able to read surface thoughts of other minds and it's possible that you could send your thoughts into other minds but it's extremely rare for someone to have these abilities so don't get your hopes up"

"How do I know if I could do that?"

"I suggest you try to send an emotion to an animal first because their thoughts aren't as complicated as ours and are therefore are easier to communicate with… actually wait here, I have an idea"

Jack was gone for about fifteen minutes before he returned took Ianto up to the loft where the pterodactyl was living.

"Suzie has not had much luck training her so we have had to sedate her most of the time. If you do have any telepathic powers you could help train her"

Ianto saw that Jack had put out two piles of fish, one pile was plain and the other was covered in some sort of barbeque sauce.

"Ok, we are going to wake her up and move back where she can't get to us. She's going to see the food and will eat it. Suzie said that she has only been eating food without the sauce but we want to use it to train her to recognise her food so she won't attack us so we need to convince her to only eat food with this sauce on it. This time if she goes for the pile covered in barbeque sauce I want you to send happy, encouraging feelings to her. If she goes for the other pile I want you to send uncomfortable, discouraging thoughts."

"How will we know if it has worked and it isn't just a fluke that she ate the other pile?"

"You should be able to tell instinctively if you have reached her, it might take some practice to work. First you need to get a feel for her mind while she is sleeping. As you found out from me the mind is a lot weaker in sleep so it will be easier to penetrate"

"How do I do that?"

"Place your fingers on the sides of her head" Ianto cautiously moved up and pressed his fingers against her head.

"Now you will need to stop shielding your own mind when you do this. Do you think you can handle that?"

"Yes" replied Ianto in a determined voice.

Jack gradually removed his contribution to Ianto's shield and then Ianto let his part of the shield fall away.

Ianto's mind was immediately swamped with the singing of the Ood however he was able to ignore it enough to follow Jack's next instruction.

"Carefully reach out with your mind. Feel for it through the physical connection that you have."

Ianto did what Jack said and was surprised to feel the warm comfortable presence of the sleeping pterodactyls mind

"I can feel her"

"Good, memorise what her mind feels like and then withdraw"

Once Ianto had done what he asked Jack said

"Now that you know what her mind feels like see if you can find it without the physical connection"

Ianto tried again and quickly found his way back into the pterodactyls mind.

"I can still sense her"

"That's great, you won't ever be able to communicate properly without a physical connection but you might be able to send and receive basic emotions from a distance."

"Let's try it"

Jack gave the pterodactyl the injection that would wake her up and both men backed away to safety.

The Pterodactyl slowly began to wake up and the stretched out like a cat. She then smelt the food and immediately made her way over to the fish without the sauce. Ianto felt for her mind and was able to find it easily so he brought up unhappy, fearful emotions and tried to pass them on to her. Ianto felt her mind react to the emotions and she backed up away from the food. Slowly she made for the other pile instead. Ianto continued to encourage her with his mind and she began to eat the fish marked with the sauce.

"It worked, I felt her mind and she did it!"

Jack whooped and pulled Ianto into a bear hug

"I knew you could do it"

Ianto smiled and withdrew from Jack

"I think she needs a name"

"What do you suggest?"

Ianto thought of all the interesting names that he had heard while he was in Cardiff and came up with the perfect name,

"Myfanwy"


	6. Chapter 6

Jack was standing in the shadows on the walkway outside his office watching his team work. He really cared about his team who he had handpicked. He was so proud of all of them. They were all brilliant in their own way and he ached at the thought that he would have to watch them die some day and just keep going.

Looking around now Jack saw Tosh updating her translation program and Suzie running some tests on an old fashioned gauntlet that had come through the rift a few days ago. Owen had brought the Ood into the autopsy bay to give him another, more in-depth medical examination and Ianto was watching from the railings above the autopsy bay.

Over the years Jack had learnt to believe the saying 'It is better to have loved and lost than to never love at all.' So Jack had learnt to make the most of spending time with the people he loved while they were still there because the thought of eternity completely alone was a very bleak thought indeed. This philosophy was what made Jack decide that even though he was scared of getting hurt he wanted to seduce Ianto Jones.

Jack continued to watch Ianto standing by the autopsy bay. The young man had stopped avoiding him however while he could flirt very well he got very shy and backed right off whenever things got more serious.

The young man fit in well here now and had taken to looking after everyone. He was quietly taking care of all the unpleasant work here such as doing the cleaning and tried to make everything easier for everyone without making a fuss about it like Owen or Suzie would have. Most of the others did not appear to appreciate this much but Jack made sure that he always thanked Ianto because he did not have to do all that but he did it anyway.

Jack had been continuing to help Ianto test his telepathy skills after the team had left for the day. He loved the chance to spend some time alone with Ianto and it had become the highlight of his day and wanted to find more way's to spend time with Ianto to try and get closer to him and try to break through some of the barriers between the two of them. Jack was also very impressed by the skills Ianto was showing in telepathy and was surprised that Ianto was unaware that he had a gift before now.

Jack could tell that Ianto was finding it difficult being stuck here and seemed to be getting homesick, wherever home was for Ianto. Ianto had taken it upon himself to look after the creature's staying in torchwood. He spent a lot of time training Myfanwy and looking after her by playing games with her and had brought lots of extra things down to the Ood's cell such as bedding and spare clothes.

Ianto had taken a special interest in the Ood and made sure that he was being treated properly by the others. Jack looked back towards the Ood in the autopsy bay, he seemed to be comfortable here always answering their questions in a polite and subservient voice.

As Jack was watching the Ood, its eyes changed to a blood red colour. Owen had his back turned to the Ood and did not see the change. He also did not see the Ood moving towards him to press the orb that it had against his head.

Ianto had realised that something was wrong and with great agility vaulted over the rail and pulled Owen away from the Ood just as the globe touched his head. Owen received what looked like a small electric shock and collapsed against Ianto.

Meanwhile Jack had come up behind the Ood and pressed his stun gun against his head, knocking him out.

"What the hell was that?" asked Jack

"I need your help, Owen won't wake up. He is breathing as still has a pulse"

"I think you got him away before that thing could kill him but I have no idea what damage it's done."

Having heard the noise coming from the autopsy bay Suzie and Tosh came running in to see what was wrong.

"Great" said Jack "I need you two to get the Ood back to his cell and if he starts to wake up stun him again"

"What happened?"

"I don't know he just attacked for some reason, Tosh could you run some more tests on him see if you can find out what's wrong. His eye's changed colour that might be significant"

"I'll see what I can do"

Efficiently the two girls set about moving the Ood

"Let's get Owen up on the table"

Together they gently moved Owen onto the table that Owen used to treat people.

"Do you think he's going to be ok?

"I don't know."


	7. Chapter 7

"Jack"

"Yes Tosh"

"The Ood's woken up, he's gone crazy. He won't stop growling and bashing against the glass and he's started frothing at the mouth."

"Have the tests shown anything interesting?"

"I can't find anything physically wrong with him but there was something strange, can we meet in the board room to discuss it"

"Ok, see you there in ten"

….

Jack, Suzie and Tosh arrived in the board room just as Ianto was laying out drinks for them.

"How's Owen?" asked Suzie

"No change, he seems to be in a catatonic state and we really need his help with this"

Everyone was silent for a moment worrying about what was going to happen to Owen. They all cared about him in their own way and the fear that they all felt for him was taking its toll on the team. Jack cleared his throat and said

"Tosh I believe you have something for us"

Tosh immediately slipped behind her professional mask and expertly began to explain what she had found.

"A few months ago this device came through the rift. Eventually we were able to work out that it measured telepathic connections between people. I scanned the Ood for this and found that he is telepathically linked to the rest of his species but something is wrong with the link it is being interfered with or something. I also read some of Owens notes and found that the globe the Ood has is not part of his natural physiology."

"So what are you saying? The Ood is still communicating telepathically with his species even though he has travelled through time because of the rift."

"I believe so and if we follow this theory it could be the explanation for the Ood's unusual behaviour"

"It's plausible but we can't rule out the possibility that it has some sort of infection." said Jack.

"We also don't know enough about its usual behaviour to make assumptions. For all we know this could be its normal behaviour" added Suzie

"Ok, Suzie you are in charge of helping Owen, see if you can find a way to help him. Tosh continue your research on the Ood. Ianto with me"

Jack led Ianto back to his office leaving everyone else to go about their work. Once they had both sat down at Jack's desk Jack asked Ianto

"Based on what your telepathy skills have shown you do you think that Tosh's theory that the Ood are communicating through time is valid?"

"I don't know, this telepathy thing is new to me remember. All I know is that I can hear its song in my mind."

"I suppose that would indicate that they are a race that does communicate through telepathy."

"The Ood's song was completely different to his outward behaviour that is before he went rabid."

"Did the song change when the Ood went rabid?"

"No he is still calling out telepathically" Ianto watched Jack get lost in his thoughts.

…

Meanwhile on a different planet in a different time…

_The Doctor turned his Ood friend and asked _

"_Sigma, would you allow me the honour?"_

"_It is yours, Doctor"_

_So the Doctor switched off the telepathic damper around the third communal brain of the Ood which had been repressing the Ood for the Humans._

"_Oh, yes! Stifled for 200 years, but not anymore. The circle is broken. The Ood can sing!"_

_The Ood everywhere stopped fighting; they stood in circles, lifted their palms and joined in the song._

"_The message has gone out. That song resonated across the galaxies, everyone heard it. Everyone knows. The rockets are bringing them back. The Ood are coming home."_

Ianto immediately knew that something was different with the Ood because the song he was hearing telepathically suddenly got much louder. However it was not uncomfortable anymore because the song had changed. Now it was the song of freedom and happiness and listening to it made Ianto feel exhilarated.

"Jack! The Ood's behaviour has changed again and the telepathic readings are much stronger now" said Tosh over the com unit.

"Tosh and Suzie run all the scans again see if you can pick up anything new, me and Ianto will go try to talk to him.

As Ianto and Jack were walking down to the cells Jack turned to Ianto and said

"Make sure that you keep shielding I don't want you to get attacked telepathically"

"I'll try" replied Ianto giving Jack a reassuring smile. Jack reached out squeezed his hand for a moment before they continued walking.

"Hello, can you tell us why you've been acting so strangely?" asked Jack taking the direct approach.

"The circle has been broken, my people can sing"

"Are you saying that you can communicate with your race even though you have travelled to a different time and place?"

"Time does not stop our song, my people from this time can hear me now they are coming to take me home."

"But you're in a different time how are your people going to reach you?"

"The Ood from this time are still my people. Now that the circle has been broken they can hear me. They will come to take me home"

"You injured a member of me team, you're not going anywhere until he is healed" said Jack with a cold, hard voice

"He should wake with time; his song is not over yet"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"When are your people going to get here?" asked Ianto interrupting Jack's question

The Ood turned to stare at Ianto

"Your mind is very similar to the Doctor Donna. I believe that you can hear the song too."

"You've seen the doctor! Where is he" demanded Jack

"The Doctor Donna has moved on"

"Jack, we should let him go there's nothing he can do for Owen and we can't just leave him in a cell"

"I guess you're right, make sure your people are not seen by my people here."

'I'm sure we can arrange a safe place for me to be picked up from"

….

Ianto walked into Jack's office for his telepathy training that night. After discovering that Jack was not in there he settled down to wait for him when he saw a hand in a jar sitting on Jack's shelf. What the hell was Jack doing with that? In spite of it being weird there was something that drew Ianto to the hand, for some reason it seemed really familiar. Ianto got up and went to have a closer look; it almost seemed to be waving at him.

Ianto felt a warm presence at his back.

"It's interesting that that should get your attention, do you know who it's from"

"No"

"It's from the doctor"

"WHAT! Why the hell do you have his hand in a jar you sick idiot" yelped Ianto turning to face Jack

"Hey calm down, it got cut off by the leader of the Sycorax in a Sword fight last Christmas but it's alright he grew another one."

"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard you can't just grow another hand! This is some sort of prank isn't it? Anyway that doesn't explain why on earth you are keeping it in a jar!"

"Are you sure you're not Welsh, that's the sort of reaction I'd expect someone from around here to have. Come on Ianto you've met the doctor anything can happen around him."

"Ok, I'll believe that but again why keep it in a jar?"

"Because this is the key to finding the doctor again"

"How?"

"I'll tell you if you tell me how you know him"

"That's blackmail, Sir"

"Actually its extortion" replied Jack with a smug smile

"You could have just asked you know"

"Well? how do you know the doctor?"

"It's complicated"

"That's not a proper answer"

"Have you heard of the planet Messaline?"

"There was a colony of Hath and humans living there"

"Did you hear about the war that happened when they first got there?"

"Yes"

"I was one of the genetically engineered soldiers created to fight in the war"

Jack had to think about this for a minute. If Ianto was made to be a soldier than maybe he was right not to trust him. It also explained some things such as the ease with which Ianto fought of the Weevil and his athletic ability when he jumped the autopsy bay rail to save Owen.

"Say something Jack"

"That doesn't explain how you know the doctor"

"Ah yes, well, um, when I was genetically engineered they used the Doctor's DNA so I'm um his son actually"

Jacks first thought was that the Doctor would probably castrate him if he even found out he was trying to get it on with his son. Then Jack thought that he should have seen it all along. Ianto was very similar to the doctor. Personality wise he had the same sense of adventure and passion for the world around him. There were other things as well such as Ianto's telepathic ability which was very similar to the doctors own abilities and of course Ianto had two hearts! Hindsight makes things seem so obvious thought Jack.

He desperately would have liked to have been there when the doctor had found out he had a son. Jack thought his face would have been priceless and probably similar to his face at the moment. Jack had to wonder why the doctor would want to leave his son.

Then another thought came to Jack

"Ianto does this mean you can regenerate like the doctor does?" he asked in a hopeful voice

"I'm not sure, the doctor managed to end the war between us and the Hath and created a new world for us to live in but I got shot in the chest. He must have thought that I wasn't coming back because he promised to take me with him but when I woke up he had left."

Jack was feeling cautiously optimistic. Had he finally found someone who was not going to die and leave him alone, at least not for a very long time hopefully. This also explained why the doctor had left Ianto.

"Did your appearance change when you came back to life?

"No, why would it?"

"Well when the doctor regenerates he has to change his appearance"

"I didn't know that. I did not get that much time with him really. But you seem to know a lot about him. Please, tell me more about my father, I want to know everything!"

Jack still had a lot that he wanted to discuss but he couldn't resist Ianto's enthusiasm so he settled them on the couch, casually slipped an arm around Ianto and began to tell stories of the Doctors adventures. He also told Ianto about how he met the Doctor and Rose and travelled with them and how the Doctor left him on the space station.

Jack did not tell Ianto about being Immortal though, for some reason he was just not ready to share this. So many people had turned on him when they found out and the last thing that he wanted to do was drive Ianto away. He instead changed the story and made it seem like he had come straight to this time to find the Doctor instead of waiting hundreds of years for him.


	8. Chapter 8

The team had just seen the Ood safely off home and were now gathered around Owen's bedside. Suzie had taken over Owens care having been trained with some basic medical knowledge to take over the simple things if Owen was indisposed.

"Maybe we should take him to a hospital, see if there's anything they can do" said Tosh in a small voice. She had been very upset by the lack of improvement Owen was showing.

"It's too dangerous. This was alien inflicted so we might blow our cover or they could get the wrong diagnosis and mistreat him because they don't know the whole story" replied Jack in a low voice

"We could call in a favour from Unit and get them to send a medic" suggested Suzie

"I suppose that's worth a try but I don't know how cooperative they will be. We're not in their good books at the moment because they think we have covered up too many cases that they wanted to investigate" said Jack

"They're just being difficult because they're annoyed about Canary Warf, it's not our fault" fumed Suzie.

"It couldn't hurt to ask though" said Ianto.

So Jack went up to his office to speak to Unit. A long time later, after a lot of swearing and yelling had echoed around the Hub, Jack re-joined the others to tell them the news.

"Apparently Unit's doctors are far too busy and sophisticated to pander to the whims of Torchwood but they have agreed to send a part time nurse to look at him and make sure it's not serious if we agree to pay for all of her expenses."

This was greeted by annoyed shouts from the others.

"What good's a nurse!" cried Tosh

"I've done more than a nurse could" Stormed Suzie

"Don't they care that he is seriously hurt" exclaimed Ianto

"I'm sorry" replied Jack soothingly "there's nothing else we can do. I've agreed to let the nurse check on him because another pair of eyes can't hurt. She's going to arrive tomorrow morning so we need to get this place cleaned up and put away all the equipment that we don't want Unit to know about"

….

Ianto was in the tourist office waiting for the Unit nurse to arrive. He was worried about Owen. Even though they sniped at each other he still liked having Owen around. Ianto admired the way he spoke his mind and fought for what he believed in regardless of what anybody else said. He was feeling very skeptical about how much help this nurse would be.

Ianto looked up as he heard the door opening and saw a middle aged women enter the tourist office.

"Good morning Ma'am, how can I help you?"

The women showed her Unit ID so Ianto opened the secret door to the Hub and let Jack know that she was coming. Then he followed her down to Owen's bedside to watch what was happening.

Jack explained to her about the Ood and the attack then Suzie told her about Owens condition and her diagnosis. The nurse who had introduced herself as Mrs Taylor listened without comment and then asked to read the notes on the Ood and Owens condition. After supplying her with those they left her to examine them and Owen in peace retreating to the quiet of the boardroom. They watched her on the CCTV as she gave Owen a basic exanimation and take a blood sample. After a tense hour she came up to the board room.

"I have examined the patient and he seems to be in a regular coma. It would be safe to check him into a hospital. If not, continue to monitor his vitals, you've already intubated him and inserted a feeding tube which is good, make sure you roll him over every two to three hours to avoid bed sores. I would recommend having him in hospital in case there are complications with his condition. Unfortunately there is not much else you can do for him perhaps talking to him, I've heard that helps."

"So you haven't been able to detect anything unusual from his condition"

"No it seems that the Ood just gave him a small electric shock that has sent him into a coma. I'm afraid that's all that I can do to help and I would appreciate a ride back to my hotel. I intend to head back to London tomorrow morning" …...

After a long and heated discussion the team decided to transfer Owen to a hospital and he had now been there for a week. Tosh had hardly left his side and Suzie, Jack and Ianto visited regularly. It had been a long week now with no change in Owen's condition. It was a rare moment with the whole team was there together when Tosh saw Owen's finger twitch.

"He moved! Come on Owen come back to us!"

Jack got up and called a nurse over.

"This might not mean anything, people often twitch and move when they are in a coma but I will take a quick look at him for you" said the motherly nurse and she bustled into the room. Just then Owen's finger twitched again and he slowly opened his eyes.

It took a while but Owen gradually recovered from his coma without many lasting side effects except for a slight fuzziness about what happened when he was attacked. He was able to return to work a few days later.

…

It was early in the afternoon during a really slow day that Jack called Ianto into his office.

"Ianto, just who I wanted to see, I was thinking of sending the others home early"

"Why's that, Sir?" asked Ianto. Jack had one of those smiles on his face that said he was up to something and it made Ianto nervous.

"Well it's been a slow day and the others deserve a break, they work too hard. I was also thinking that its time you went out a bit. I think you've proven that we can trust you so you need to learn how to act like a local and not arouse suspicion. Also under no circumstances are you to talk about the future, ever."

"That shouldn't be too hard" replied Ianto

"Great, I'll take you to see a movie, that sort of thing is very popular here"

"If you think so"

Before he had even finished his reply Ianto found himself being propelled out of Jacks office

"Ok kids, you can have the rest of the day off, that means you too Toshiko Sato! You work far too hard, go out and have some fun"

Then Jack bounced off with Ianto to the SUV and drove them to the nearest cinema.

"What film should we see?" Asked Ianto after they had wandered into the foyer part of the cinema, he looked around at all the bright and colourful posters and had no idea what to choose.

"How about the new James Bond film, you look like a man who would enjoy some action" said Jack with a leer making Ianto go a delightful shade of red.

Jack gave Ianto some money and sent him off to have a go at buying the tickets. This was going very well thought Jack it was the perfect excuse to spend a whole afternoon with Ianto.

Ianto loved the cinema. It all seemed so real and he quickly became caught up in the story. Jack had steered into a dark corner and spent most of the film examining Ianto's face. His wondrous, happy expression made Jack feel like he was going to the movies for the first time as well and Jack took great delight in memorising all of Ianto's reactions.

….

Jack was doing paperwork at his desk when he heard a knock on the door. He was surprised to find Tosh and Owen entering with determined looks on their faces. Despite Tosh's high regard for Owen it was rare to see the two teamed up together.

"What can I do for you two?"

Tosh and Owen glanced at each other then Tosh took a deep breath and said

"We think that you should offer Ianto a job"

This was surprising thought Jack, it wasn't so much Tosh but Jack thought that Owen didn't trust Ianto.

"Can I ask what's brought this on?" said Jack carefully

"Well after the tea boy saved my life I suppose I had better give him a chance" said Owen

"I would also like to train Ianto in the basics of my job so that he can do the essential things if I'm sick after all Suzie was trained to cover Owen's job" added Tosh

"Besides he's practically the Torchwood butler anyway so he might as well get paid for it" said Owen

Jack leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. He had been considering allowing Ianto to work for him, one of his concerns had been how the others would react to this however it seemed that now he had no excuse for continuing to refuse Ianto's request for work.

"Tosh what exactly did you have in mind when you said you would like to train Ianto"

"I have been impressed with his tech skills watching him repair his ship and out of all of us I think he would be able to understand what I do the best. I think that he could take over some of the more routine stuff like creating spy software to keep an eye on things, hacking and maintenance. That would leave me free to do more extensive research. I think that Ianto has shown some interest in how mainframe works and he would enjoy this."

"Ok, as long as you don't give him too much of the boring stuff to do and he need's enough free time to work on his ship"

Tosh gave him a smile similar to what a five year old would have when given their favourite sweet. Owen just nodded and left.

"Oh and Tosh" Jack called out as she went to leave

"Send Ianto up here would you"


	9. Chapter 9

It was Iantos first team meeting as a fully-fledged employee of Torchwood. It felt good to finally be doing something useful. Ianto felt that the work he helped Torchwood do would make his father proud. Tosh had taken him under her wing and was teaching him the finer points of software design, research and hacking. Ianto had also asked Jack if he could have a go at straightening out the archives and spent hours reading about all different sorts of aliens and technology.

Having a job also gave Ianto a higher social standing in Torchwood. He was no longer treated with suspicion and indifference. Even Owen was making an effort to be nice and their sniping at each other was turning into more friendly banter and teasing.

He was still denied his request to be a field agent. Ianto felt that with his soldier training he would have been perfect for that job however he was given so much to do that it did not really matter. Ianto was also told that he was allowed to leave the hub by himself and was trusted not to destroy the world.

One by one the members of the team filed into the boardroom and sat down waiting for the meeting to start. Suzie made her way up to the head of the table and began to describe her findings from the large metal glove that she had been researching. 

"I have noticed the similarities of the materials that gauntlet is made from to that of the knife we recovered from the rift earlier and have concluded that they are from the same place and have similar functions. Both have some sort of connection to a person's life force, the knife is more efficient at ending life and I believe that the glove is able to restore life however so far all attempts to do this have only worked temporarily"

"How have you established this?" asked Jack

"I conducted a small experiment on any dead bugs that I have found around the place. For this to work you have to be wearing the glove and you just kind of coax the creature back to life. It's a very strange feeling, when you put it on it makes you feel kind of cold and numb"

"Are you sure it's safe" asked Owen warily

"I haven't felt any side effects from it. I would like permission to test it on humans"

"I guess it could be useful but we need to be very careful about this. Owen I want you to monitor the physical effect the glove has on people and be present every time the glove is used so you can watch for side effects and make sure nothing goes wrong." Ordered Jack, he was feeling a bit guarded about this. It sounded like it could have the power over life and death. He would have to watch the emotional effect the glove was having on his team very carefully.

"I suggest you have a go with one of the corpses down in the morgue" suggested Owen.

…

They had all had a go at reviving the bodies in the morgue but only Suzie had any success albeit briefly. Suzie thought that they should have a go with the freshly dead so Ianto was given the task of hacking into the police files and finding all the murder victims that would be suitable.

This had been going on for about a month and Suzie was slowly improving, being able to keep the dead in the world of the living a little longer each time. It was during these long hours that Ianto began to notice a disturbing pattern. Every time there was a new murder that would be extremely suitable for their experiments Suzie had been mysteriously absent. He wouldn't have suspected anything if he hadn't been looking at the police records. Following Suzie's advice the team had focused on murder victims with stab wounds who when revived always said that they didn't see their attacker. Ianto felt like he did not have enough proof to confront Suzie so the next time Suzie popped out Ianto decided that he was going to follow her.

…

Ianto had been watching Suzie on the CCTV cameras all day from the safety of the archives when he finally got his chance. He saw Suzie slipping out the door with the excuse that she was just popping out to the store to buy some more equipment. He stealthily made his way through the archives towards a more secret and secluded exit from the hub while continuing to monitor Suzie from his handheld PDA when he walked straight into the solid form of Jack. Jack slipped his arms around Ianto's waist to stop him from falling and asked

"What are you up to?"

Ianto blushed and stepped back

"I was just heading out to Tesco's to but us more supplies, I understand that we are running low on the chocolate biscuits that you love" replied Ianto in a bright, chirpy voice. He thought that he had successfully lied to Jack however he merely raised an eyebrow and said

"Why do you need to be watching the CCTV of outside the hub to go to the shop?"

Ianto hurriedly switched off his PDA

"I thought we could trust you Ianto, what are you up to?"

"I'm not up to anything!" replied Ianto stung by Jack's accusation however when Jack continued to give him a cold hard stare that Ianto hated he decided to share his suspicions.

Dragging Jack over to his computer station in the archives Ianto brought up the data he had collected from his research that connected Suzie to the murders. Without Ianto having to explain anything Jack quickly scanned the data and said in a carefully controlled voice

"So you're accusing Suzie of running around and murdering people"

Despite all of the attention Jack had been giving him lately Ianto suddenly felt very unsure of his standing with him.

"It's just a hunch, I, um, thought that I would discreetly follow her to check that she has been telling the truth just to be on the safe side. I wasn't going to do anything over the top that would invade her privacy"

"You should have brought this straight to me"

"I wanted to have more information first. I didn't want it to look like I was randomly pointing the finger"

Jack suddenly looked very tired and sad.

"I've been worried that something like this would happen, the power of the glove was bound to drive somebody to do something stupid. Ok, for now I want you to keep this between us. We don't want Suzie to know that we are suspicious of her so we need to carry on as normal and keep testing the glove. Next time Suzie goes out we will follow through with your plan and you will follow her to see what she does but I want you to remain in contact with me at all times. You are not to make yourself known to her under any circumstances; I do not want you to get into a situation where you could be hurt."


	10. Chapter 10

**AN, Hi everyone sorry for the late update, I just wanted to say thanks for the great reviews they really make my day. **

…**.**

It was late in the evening and Ianto was skulking behind a tree trying to see through the pouring rain. After Jack had informed him that Suzie had disappeared off in the direction of a local park Ianto had tracked her down through the CCTV network and was now carefully spying on her. This wasn't very hard to do as she was simply sitting on a bench staring into space and had been for about half an hour now. Ianto could not quite work out why she was doing this.

Ianto was not exactly sure what he thought Suzie was up to. He trusted Suzie and more to the point Jack trusted her. While she had never gone out of her way to be nice to him he believed her to be extremely loyal to Torchwood and had more responsibilities than the other members of the team. She also cared a lot about her team mates, especially Owen. Ianto had seen how upset and worried she had been when Owen was sick and refused to believe that she would do anything to betray the others. In spite of this there was a nagging feeling in Iantos mind that something was just not quite right and he was determined to find out what it was.

"Ianto, what's going on?" Asked Jack though the private comms channel they had set up beforehand.

"No change sir she's still sitting there"

"Well she shouldn't be taking time off work just to sit on a bench so something must be going on, keep me posted"

"Will do"

Ianto could be very patient and was willing to wait a long time to get information. Staring at Suzie Ianto noticed that she had a very determined expression on her face however she seemed completely unengaged with what was happening around her. This was not like Suzie; normally she was a very shrewd person always paying close attention to what was going on so that she could use that knowledge to her advantage.

Looking closely for more things that might not be quite right about Suzie's behaviour Ianto noticed that she had a large bag that was obviously concealing a large long object. Why would Suzie want that with her when she was just sitting on a bench doing nothing?, thought Ianto. Her body language was also off. Normally Suzie was very confident however now she was hunched in on herself as if she was trying to hide from the outside world.

Now that he had started to analyse Suzie's behaviour he started to remember other incidents where she had been acting a bit out of character, none of them strange enough for him to worry about at the time but when put together became concerning. For example Suzie had been gradually becoming more and more withdrawn lately and had let her relationships with her colleague's slip instead becoming obsessed with her work. There was another instance when he had overheard Suzie crying in the supply closet. Even if Iantos suspicions that Suzie was guilty of a crime were untrue he still thought they somebody needed to intervene and counsel her about her odd behaviour.

Suddenly Suzie's face broke into a slightly cruel expression that Ianto had never seen on the young woman before sending a shiver down his spine. Something unknown to Ianto had triggered a change in Suzie's behaviour. She got up and concealed herself behind a large tree just like what Ianto was doing.

"Jack, Suzie has moved behind a tree, she seems to be waiting for something and I no longer have a decent view of her."

"Try and change your position without compromising your cover"

As quietly as possible Ianto moved around the tree and climbed up into its lower branches so that he was angled towards Suzie again but could not be seen by people walking down the path next to the bench Suzie had just vacated.

"I can see her properly now" Ianto Informed Jack

"Good, what's happening?"

"She is still hiding and I think I can see someone approaching, I think this shows that something's up we should clear the area in case someone gets hurt"

"No you might endanger yourself and it's not enough proof. You need to see her commit a crime"

"But what if she hurts somebody, I can't just sit by and let that happen!"

"What did you think was going to happen when you promised not to intervene under any circumstances besides it's probably not that serious Suzie's not a killer and you're just checking up on her"

While Jack and Ianto had been arguing the young man had been making his way up the path and was now very close to their position. Ianto had not thought about the consequences when he had agreed to remain undercover. He was not expecting to witness a murder however when he suddenly saw what they had christened the life knife shoot out of the tree that Suzie was hiding behind it was only Jack's desperate voice in his ear that kept him in the tree. He desperately wanted to go and help the man and it went against his character to see someone in peril and not try to help them but going out there would get him killed too and it was clear that there was nothing he could do to save the man.

Ianto sobbed silently as he watched Suzie pull the life knife out of the man's back and leave the park. Suzie was a murderer! Ianto could not believe it and to make matters worse she had obviously carefully planned this as well. Ianto did not know how long he had been sitting there in numb shock but eventually he became aware of Jack's frantic voice shouting in his ear

"Ianto, are you still there? Are you alright? Ianto!"

"Sir"

"Ianto, what happened?"

"She killed him" Ianto replied in a faint voice. He understood fighting and death in battle however he just couldn't comprehend why his co-worker had killed in cold blood.

"Stay where you are. I'm coming to get you and I'll let the police know that we are dealing with it," said Jack.

Ianto continued to sit in the tree and he watched the rain continue to fall on the now dead body, washing away the blood.

…

Jack drove the SUV as fast as he could. He desperately hoped that Ianto hadn't put himself in any danger. He really wasn't actually expecting Suzie to do anything as bad as this. He just couldn't believe that a trusted team member and friend would do this! After all it was Suzie, the woman who he had trained and shaped himself. He had done so much for her and this was how she repaid him. Neither he nor Ianto had been expecting cold blooded murder from Suzie, sure they thought she was up to something but he never suspected anything as, well, evil as this.

When he arrived he found Ianto still sitting in the tree and he seemed to be in a state of shock. After a moment's hesitation Jack secured the area with crime scene tape and then climbed up to sit next to Ianto

"Hey" He said nudging Iantos shoulder

"Hey" Ianto replied with a small smile

"You ok"

"I will be"

Gently Jack put a comforting arm around Ianto and pulled him up against him.

"I need you to tell me exactly what happened" he murmured wishing he could shield Ianto from this. Ianto often came across as a very strong and brave person. It was only at times like this when Ianto saw unexplainable hurt and sorrow that he saw the innocent and venerable side to him which never failed to make Jack feel protective of Ianto.

Ianto rested his head on Jacks shoulder and in a low voice described everything he had seen Suzie do. When he had finished Jack coaxed him down from the tree and said

"I have a plan if you're up for it"


	11. Chapter 11

Gwen Cooper had been called in on her night off to help deal with a murder case at the scene of the crime. When she arrived she went up to her partner Andy to find out what all the details were. Without her having to ask anything Andy immediately went into a rant about how they hadn't been told anything because Torchwood were apparently dealing with it.

"Who the bloody hell are Torchwood anyway?" he said throwing his hands in the air and pausing for breath. Gwen used this temporary silence to ask

"Why were we called in if we aren't going to be allowed to do our jobs?"

"Oh apparently we are allowed to examine the body after they have finished with it mind you they only said that because the boss chucked a hissy fit. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up taking over completely."

Satisfied that she had gotten all of the information that she could from her partner she turned her attention to the two figures near the body. They must be Torchwood she thought although they did look a bit strange and they weren't acting very professionally. One man had his arm around the other who appeared to be crying onto his shoulder. Turning around she saw three other people arrive in a black SUV with Torchwood emblazoned on the roof.

They confidently strode towards the crime scene and then began unloading equipment.

"Gwen, come on we have to move" said Andy.

"What? Why?" asked Gwen distractedly still looking at the members of Torchwood

"Orders from Torchwood" replied Andy dragging her away. As they were walking back towards the police car Gwen noticed a large tree that overlooked the crime scene.

"I think I dropped my ring back there I'll just go fetch it and catch you up with you back at the station" said Gwen

"That's ok I can wait for you"

"Nah don't worry about it you go get back in car out of the rain"

"Alright then"

Once Andy had turned away Gwen snuck over to the tree and climbed up to watch what was going on. Her gaze was immediately drawn to the gorgeous man who was wearing a large greatcoat. He no longer had his arm around the other man and was now ordering the rest of the team about. Definitely the man in charge thought Gwen, I'll have to keep my eye on him.

Her eyes went wide as they proceeded to remove a large old fashioned glove from one of the boxes they were carrying. What would they need that for? Gwen wondered. It soon became clear what they needed it for as the tall female put the glove on placed it behind the dead man's head. Gwen nearly fell out of the tree when the corpse suddenly gasped and opened its eyes.

"That's just not possible" whispered Gwen to herself. She continued to watch with wide eyes as the team tried to ask him questions about how he died. Out of the corner of her eye Gwen had continued to watch the good looking man in the coat and it was because of this that she noticed he had subtly changed position so that he was standing directly behind the woman using the glove. As the corpse went back to acting like a corpse should act he whipped out a syringe from his pocket and injected the woman in the neck with it. The woman never even had a chance to realise anything was wrong and had not even realised that her leader was behind her. The other two team members that had arrived with her immediately went into uproar clearly they had not expected that to happen. Gwen noticed that the other in the suit did not seem at all surprised about the turn of events. Returning her gaze to the handsome, oddly dressed leader Gwen watched him ignore the others protests and bundle the now limp body into the SUV.

Above and beyond the police or not Gwen was definitely not going to let this go.

…

Ianto and Jack were sitting in Jack's office nursing glasses of whiskey. They had kept Suzie knocked out and had her sleeping in the cells for now. Everybody was in complete shock and needed some time to process what had happened before they spoke to Suzie again. Ianto was desperate to talk about anything but what had happened the last few days so he cast about desperately for another topic.

"You never did explain to me why you have the doctor's hand in a jar"

Jack looked up at Ianto and raised his eyebrows and his depressed expression lifted slightly from his face

"Ah yes I've been meaning to talk to you about that. You want to find the doctor again don't you?"

Ianto gave a small nod he had a bad feeling about where this conversation was going

"Well so do I" continued Jack "If the doctor ever lands nearby his hand will react to his presence and we can catch up to him before he leaves."

"Oh I see! it all makes sense now you don't look like a creepy stalker at all" replied Ianto sarcastically

Jack flashed a grin at Ianto (He loved it when Ianto made sassy comments like that) and moved his chair around the desk so that he was sitting right next to Ianto.

"The doctor refuels his ship off the rift therefore he is going to turn up here eventually and we will know the moment he arrives because of his hand."

"How long have you been waiting for him?"

"A while but he will turn up and I really need to ask him some questions"

"Yes but we can't wait forever and there's a good chance that he won't choose this time period to come"

Jack was torn between wanting to tell Ianto the truth and not doing anything that might drive ianto away.

"Jack!"

"Sorry drifted off for a moment, come on let's go out somewhere and have dinner. I'm starving and I really don't feel like cooking anything"


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: thank you to Lyless and Lockesilver for becoming my Beta and helping me with this chapter. **

…

The Torchwood team were milling around their work stations when Owen cried out:

"Hey, that good looking girl that was hanging about at the crime scene is standing outside staring at the fountain; Has been for a while according to the CCTV."

The rest of the team hurriedly gathered around Owen's computer to see what he was talking about.

"Do you think she suspects something?" asked Ianto.

"Why else would she be hanging around here?" retorted Owen.

"She could be meeting someone."

"Jack, last night she followed us back here from the park and then she saw you and Ianto go down the invisible lift." said Tosh who had started combing through CCTV footage.

"I guess it's not a coincidence then." remarked Ianto.

"So what do we do?" asked Tosh.

"She's harmless for now so we'll leave her alone but we might need a new recruit to replace Suzie."

As soon as Jack mentioned Suzie everybody looked away uncomfortably and went back to work.

…...

Ianto was coming up from the archives when he heard Tosh gossiping with Owen and could not stop himself from eavesdropping.

"I still think he fancies that girl that's been following us. I bet she will have a job here by the end of the week whether she is any good at this or not."

"No way! He's gay, we've been watching him swoon after Ianto for weeks."

"I think they're just friends, besides, Jack flirts with everybody."

"I wonder if Jack's told Ianto anything about himself."

"Don't think so, Jack never tells anybody anything."

"That's true we don't know anything about him at all."

"I'm sure he has his reasons for not saying anything."

"That's what we thought about Suzie and now look what's happened."

Before they could continue their conversation they were interrupted by Jack calling out for an emergency meeting in the board room.

Ianto hung back in the shadows for a moment trying to figure out why he felt so disturbed by this conversation. It wasn't like he was interested in Jack was it? And jack had told him plenty of things about himself like knowing the doctor surely Jack wouldn't keep anything big about himself a secret from Ianto.

"Ianto." said Jack who was standing right behind Ianto causing him to jump.

"Team meeting, I need you in the board room right now."

"Yes sir."

…

"It appears that our new friend is not going to go away" said Jack bringing up CCTV footage of Gwen hanging around the Plass.

"Well put her out of her misery then and either retcon her or hire her." said Owen, who was feeling annoyed at having to waste his time with this.

"We need to know more about her before we even consider hiring her so, Ianto, could you please do a background check. Tosh, I want you to monitor her and let me know if she actually finds out anything more about us."

"So you're actually considering hiring her then?" asked Tosh.

"I'll give her three days, if she can find her way into Torchwood by then, then she is obviously a smart cookie and she can have a job; if not we retcon her"

…

Ianto was talking to Suzie in the interrogation room trying to find out if murder was her decision or if she was being controlled by the glove. Jack wanted them all to have a go at talking to her before they decided what they were going to do. Everyone hated this task because they all felt a bit uncomfortable talking to Suzie now.

"How long have you been using the glove?"

"Have you and Jack started shagging yet?"

"What?" yelped Ianto.

"Oh come on, I've seen the way you look at each other. He fancies you, I'm surprised it's taken him this long to get into your pants."

"We're not together, we're just friends."

"Well, you better get a move on, he might start going after the new girl that everyone seems so obsessed about."

"How do you know about that? You've been stuck in the cells."

"I still hear all the gossip. Owen reckons she's gorgeous by the way."

"Can you please just answer my question?"

"What question was that?"

"How long have you been using the glove?"

…...

Gwen cooper was getting tired of just standing around waiting for something to happen when she saw a pizza delivery girl walk past and an idea struck her, Even Torchwood eats pizza.

Half an hour later Gwen was standing at the tourist information office holding two freshly baked pizzas. The man at the shop had told her that this was where the pizzas were delivered to but Gwen had no idea how this place was connected to Torchwood. She supposed she should just go in and ask.

…

It was Ianto's turn to monitor Gwen Cooper on the CCTV when he saw her do something strange.

"Jack, I think you should see this."

"What?"

"Our stalker's getting creative."

Jack gave Ianto one of his full blown smiles and said.

"Well, it looks like we might be getting a new employee after all. Ianto I want you to wait in the tourist office and let her in if she turns up, the rest of us will keep an eye on her here."

As Ianto made his way up to the tourist office he could not get rid of the nagging feeling that this was a very bad idea.


	13. Chapter 13

Ianto was climbing down the ladder from Myfanwys loft after he had finished feeding her when he caught sight of Gwen, Jack, Owen and Tosh playing basketball. Gwen had been a part of the team for a while now and got on well with everyone, especially Jack thought Ianto as he watched Jack grab Gwen around the waist and playfully shift her out of the way. Everyone looked like they were having fun and Ianto felt a pang of jealousy that he hadn't been invited to play. As Ianto walked into the room the team wrapped up their game and left with acknowledging his presence except for Jack throwing the ball to him without even glancing at him.

Ianto felt hurt when the others left the hub to go out for a drink together without inviting him. When had he become so isolated from the others? At that moment Ianto really felt like an outsider, there were just too many times when his unusual background made him feel different. Everyone else just seemed to naturally know how to get along and be friends with people. Ianto tried so hard but there were just some things that were still a mystery to him. He never knew exactly what to say or how to act and was constantly finding his soldier instincts kicking in making act differently. He was still living in the hub like a prisoner and didn't even go outside for field work. Ianto wondered how long it would take for him to really feel like a member of the team.

Gwen had only just joined the team and she seemed to have become everyone's best friend, Ianto wished he could do that because all he really wanted was to be liked and accepted. In spite of his slightly jealous feelings about Gwen Ianto had to admit that she was doing a good job. Sure she had made some mistakes like setting loose an alien sex gas when she was trying to look cool but she seemed to have the same feeling of compassion for people and aliens caught up with Torchwood that he felt when he first arrived. Ianto remembered how shocked he felt when he started at Torchwood and how he had vowed to make things better. He was forced to admit that Gwen had had more success at achieving that than him because people seemed to listen to her. It just wasn't that simple for Ianto, he had come to appreciate just how hard it was to work at Torchwood. There were always situations where there was only so much that could be done to help and Ianto knew that he would go crazy if he got as emotionally involved as Gwen did and wouldn't be any help at all.

…

Ianto was busy setting up the board room when Jack and Owen walked in discussing their mission from the night before. Ianto had heard that Gwen had found a device that made her see the image of a young boy. She had definitely seemed shaken when the team had returned last night.

Ianto passed a coffee to Jack who smiled at him before returning to his conversation with Owen.

"Jeez Gwen can run fast can't she."

"Yeah she's quite fit" replied Owen with a smirk.

"She's still a bit green though. I mean she needs to learn not to throw things and press random buttons on alien objects" remarked Tosh as she walked into the room gratefully accepting a cup of coffee from Ianto.

"She'll pick it up fast, everyone needs some time to settle in" replied Jack.

The conversation quickly switched back to the case as Gwen walked into the room and Ianto returned to the archives to get some work done.

Morning tea time approached and as the team appeared to be working quite hard Ianto went out and bought them some coffee and jam doughnuts to share. Ianto had to bite his cheek to stop himself from laughing when Jack proceeded to stuff his entire jam doughnut into his mouth at once and then attempt to talk.

"This kid Burney, where does he live?"

"Splott" pronounced Tosh.

"**Splott!" **cried Owen.

"I believe estate agents pronounce it _Splott_" said Ianto taking a very dainty bite from his doughnut just to show Jack the proper way to eat it.

…

Ianto was waiting with coffee ready when the team returned from investigating the kid Bernie Harris. It was immediately obvious that something was wrong with Owen who pushed past Ianto nearly making him spill the cup of coffee he was holding and stormed off into the autopsy bay. Ianto turned back to the rest of the team. Tosh was gazing off in the direction of the autopsy bay. She is probably desperate to go in there and comfort Owen, thought Ianto who was kind of feeling the same way but he knew if either of them did try to talk to Owen they would probably get their heads bitten off.

It was later that day when the team gathered in the main part of the hub to discuss what to do next when Ianto found out what had happened.

"The Victims name was Lizzie" stated Jack going into his captain's persona.

"Elizabeth Harris, only child of Mabel Ann Harris, died March 29th 1963. Raped and murdered on Pembroth Street under the bridge, 17 years old" recited Tosh in a grim voice.

"He killed her, she told her mum she'd be home by nine" murmured Owen who was being uncharacteristically quiet.

""You're a bad one Ed Morgan" she said, that's him! look him up" he continued sitting up straighter.

Ianto lost interest in the conversation as the others began discussing the Quantum Transducer (aka Ghost machine) which was apparently responsible for the visions Owen and Gwen saw because it converted emotional energy.

Ianto was more concerned about Owen than the knowing about machine. He could tell that there was no way Owen would let this go as he was obviously deeply affected by what he saw. It was times like this that Ianto really saw the little boy in Owen who was struggling to come to terms with the evil in this world.

His concerns were immediately proven to be accurate as Owen and Jack went head to head about how they should proceed with the case. The confrontation finished with Jack disappearing into the shooting range with Gwen which was something Ianto really didn't want to think about.

It was only after the others had left that Ianto realised that the Quantum Transducer was missing. After seeing what the effects of the machine had done to Gwen and Owen, Ianto felt concerned about it being used without supervision. Searching back through the CCTV Ianto soon found the footage that showed Gwen slipping it into her bag. Ianto was trying to decide if he should say anything to Jack or not when one of their software alerts went off. It was the program that Ianto had developed with Tosh to track and searches or written documents made on peoples personal PC's. Ianto had used the programme whenever they retconned someone to make sure they didn't record any information that they were supposed to forget. After Suzie, Jack made sure it was also used to monitor all Torchwood employees to make they didn't do anything they weren't supposed to do.

This alert showed that someone was doing a search on Ed Morgan using the Torchwood software from their personal computer. Ianto was willing to bet everything he owned that it was Owen doing the search. Sure enough the programme identified that the search was being run on Owen's laptop.

Ianto wondered what he should do next. He really wanted to help Owen come to terms with this but he just didn't know how. If someone asked him to shoot a target or take out an enemy he would have no problem but feelings and emotions were just so complicated. Maybe he should go to Tosh, they seemed to get along ok and he was sure that he could drag her away from her work if it meant helping Owen. In the meantime Ianto decided to just keep an eye on Owen and stop his friend from doing anything that he might later regret.

Again Ianto contemplated going to Jack but the older man seemed so distant lately. Ianto was beginning to wonder if he had done something wrong, maybe he had been avoiding him too much. Ianto had not realised how much he valued Jack's companionship until it was taken away from him. His fears about having a close relationship with him seemed silly now that it didn't look like anything was going to happen between them. Ianto resolved not to run away from his feelings anymore just because he was scared. Returning his thoughts back to his original problem Ianto decided to keep his mouth shut for now but would talk to Jack if things got worse.

….

The next morning Owen did not show up for work so Ianto made an excuse about needing to get more coffee beans which he was not entirely sure anyone paid attention to. After fleeing the hub Ianto made his way to Ed Morgan's address which he had looked up the night before just in case something like this happened.

Sure enough Owen's car was parked outside. Ianto was about to go and interrupt when he heard raised voices and then saw Owen being thrown out of the house. Ianto felt nothing but compassion for the young doctor when he saw the look on his face. It was then that Owen caught sight of Ianto and his expression changed to being annoyed.

"Oi, tea boy! Mind your own business and quit bloody stalking me! You almost gave me a heart attack for crying out loud."

"Owen you're not supposed to be here, what did you say to him?"

"What? did Jack send you here to bring me back like a naughty school kid?"

"No, nobody else knows but you should know that any searches you do on the Torchwood database are recorded."

"Great so are you going to tell on me then?"

"I want to help you Owen but you're going about this the wrong way and stuff like this will only get you into trouble."

"What do you know tea boy, you have no right to talk to me like that!"

Ianto was about to snap back at Owen when he heard him cry,

"BEARNIE HARRIS" and watched him race away. Ianto quickly made the decision to follow.

Bernie was fast and knew the area and although Owen was very athletic he soon fell behind. Ianto however was born to do things like this and agilely chased the kid down alleys, over fences and through gardens until he managed to corner him.

"Don't hurt me please, I've got asthma."

"I'm not going to hurt you if you cooperate with me" replied Ianto and quickly contacted Owen telling him to meet them in a nearby pub.

The three of them were chatting when Jack, Gwen and Tosh walked in.

"Well this is cosy, Ianto this is an interesting way to buy coffee beans." Said Jack, making the younger man blush.

Ianto was too busy worrying about how much trouble he was in with Jack to pay much attention to the conversation after that however when Bernie talked about seeing visions and making money he sat up and listened to everything Bernie said. Before he had a chance to ask anything Jack ended the conversation and everyone started to walk away when Bernie cried,

"So you don't want the other half then?" stopping everyone in their tracks.

As the rest of the team was leaving to go search Bernie's house Jack drew Ianto aside.

"You are not a trained field agent and you shouldn't be here" said Jack in a low and angry voice. Ianto was about explain the situation to him when Jack cut him off,

"No arguments Ianto go back to the hub right now and we will talk about this later."

…

When the team returned Ianto braced himself for a full on argument with Jack but instead Jack just disappeared into his office with Gwen. Deciding that this was a good thing as he really didn't want to fight with Jack Ianto went to find Tosh.

"Hey what happened?"

"We found the other half and apparently it shows the future, Gwen saw something" replied Tosh distractedly as she busily scanned both halves of the machine.

"I'm worried about Owen, I think maybe you should talk to him" said Ianto but Tosh merely nodded her head not looking like she was paying attention so Ianto decided to leave her to it and went to find Owen.

"Hey, come to interfere with things even more tea boy?"

"No."

"Well then go away, I'm busy" claimed Owen.

Ianto went down to the archives. He just wanted to help and Owen had no right to snap at him he thought. After thinking this Ianto felt a little guilty because Owen was obviously having a hard time and being snarky was his way of protecting himself. Maybe he couldn't help Owen and he should just leave him to sort himself out. Turning back to things he could do Ianto began searching the archives trying to find any information that might help. He was busy at work when Tosh came and found him.

"I've been thinking about what you said with Owen and I think he might be interested to know that I managed to track down Ed Morgan and I've got his medical records here."

Ianto sighed and said,

"Actually Owen's already found him that's where we were this morning, I found him leaving his house."

"What! What did he say?"

"I don't know, but Owen was a bit annoyed that I followed him. Can you talk to him, take him out for a drink or something and make sure he's ok."

"I'll see what I can do" replied Tosh.

…

Jack was feeling guilty about telling Ianto off earlier. He just didn't like the idea of the young man being in danger. After all he wasn't trained even if he was pretty good in a fight. Resolving to find Ianto and apologise Jack made his way down to the archives. It had been a while since they had talked as Jack had been busy settling Gwen into her new job and Jack realised that he had been neglecting Ianto quite a bit. He was hurt that Ianto had lied to him about where he was going that morning and he began to wonder if there was anything else Ianto had neglected to tell him.

Making his way down the stairs he was greeted with the sight of a gorgeous Ianto engrossed in a file. Ianto looked so cute when he was working thought Jack. Then he noticed the expression on Ianto's face and immediately became concerned that something was upsetting him. Jack gently cleared his throat making Ianto jump and turn to face him.

"Jack."

"Care to tell me what was going on this morning?"

"I… I was worried about Owen."

"So why didn't you say something to me?"

"I… I'm sorry I don't know why."

"Ianto you need to be honest with me."

"I'm sorry."

"Whatever" said Jack who left without another word.

When Ianto was alone he noticed Ed Morgan's medical file which Tosh had left sitting there before she left to talk to Owen. What he saw there made him feel very worried.

…

Jack was going over the case notes for Bernie Harris, something he said was bugging him…something about blackmail. He was surprised to see Ianto burst through the door brandishing a file.

"Sir, I think you should see this."

"What is it?"

"Ed Morgan's medical file, apparently he's been treated for depression and has made attempts at suicide, I'm worried about what Owen did when he visited him."

"This looks serious; I reckon Bernie was blackmailing him. I'm going to call Gwen" said Jack already dialling Gwen's number. He was not pleased to hear that she was at Bernie's place and quickly arranged for the team to meet him there.

"Ianto, monitor the CCTV in case Bernie makes a run for it."

Jack raced out of the hub leaving Ianto standing there wondering what the hell was going on. While he was waiting Ianto looked up Ed Morgan's file on the computer, severe depression, didn't sound good. Following his instincts Ianto brought up the CCTV for Ed's house as well and saw the man walking in the direction of Bernie's flat holding a knife. This was not good thought Ianto as he contacted Jack to let him know what had happened.

…

Ianto watched the team walk into the hub looking defeated. Gwen especially looked shaken up so Ianto went to put some coffee on and get a blanket for Gwen. On his way to the kitchen he was intercepted by Tosh who quietly explained that Gwen had accidently stabbed Ed Morgan as he walked into the knife she was holding before anyone could stop him. After hearing this Ianto decided that maybe something a bit stronger than coffee was needed.

Ianto barely listen to Jacks speech about how there was nothing they could have done and was relieved when he was asked to archive the Ghost machine. Gwen's face was breaking his heart and he needed to be on his own for a bit.

…...

After everyone else had left Jack went in search of Ianto and found him still working in the archives.

"Hey" said Jack smiling softly and was relieved to see Ianto smile back.

"Look, I'm sorry I was so hard on you today, you were just trying to look out for your friend" continued Jack.

"Thanks" replied Ianto.

"So are we cool?" asked Jack.

"Yeah" said Ianto who then gave Jack a proper smile.


End file.
